You could not create a dream market much better than Brazil for UFC
President Dana White. The emerging economic superpower is already
the world’s sixth biggest economy, with a growing middle class
flush with increasing disposable income to spend on sport and
hobby. Just as importantly, Brazil has a deep and extended
connection to vale tudo fighting. Arguably no country in the world
is more important to the sport’s development. MMA is more than just
another sport looking to find its niche in the Brazilian
market.

As strong as the present looks for MMA in Brazil, the future looks
even brighter. Brazil’s economy continues to grow annually at rates
much higher than fully developed economies like the United States,
Germany and Japan. There will be even more money to spend on MMA.
There will also be no problem -- like the one that occurred in
Japan -- creating future homegrown heroes to sell to the market.
Brazil has star fighters at just about every weight class,
including many of the sport’s top prospects.

While there was plenty of potential for MMA to explode in Brazil,
it still needed a trigger. Enter Anderson
Silva and Vitor
Belfort. Their main event at UFC 126 was a perfect matchup for
the Brazilian market: the most famous Brazilian fighter in Belfort
against the best Brazilian fighter in “The Spider.” The fight
attracted unprecedented press and interest in Brazil, with the
event in Las Vegas flooded with Brazilian fans and media.

Perhaps most importantly for the sport, the Belfort-Anderson Silva
fight caught the attention of Brazilian television executives. In
the fall of 2011, much was made domestically of the announcement of
the partnership between the UFC and Fox. However, the UFC signed a
deal at that time with a network that had even more power in its
native country: Rede Globo. Soon, the UFC was attracting more than
20 million viewers on a regular basis on Brazil’s top television
network. “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” played the same role that
the American version of the show did seven years earlier.

Jed
Jacobsohn/Zuffa LLC/UFC/Getty

Silva-Belfort changed everything in Brazil.

Brazil also was a natural target for live event expansion. The UFC
returned to Brazil for the first time in more than a decade in 2011
to perform in front of one of the most raucous crowds in MMA
history. Brazil would fast become not just another destination like
Japan, Germany or Sweden. Rather, it has quickly developed into a
preferred touchdown point. The UFC went from running one show in
2011 to three in 2012 to five already in 2013. From May to
September alone, the UFC will hit Brazil four times, doubling the
number of stops in Las Vegas and nearly as many as in all United
States locations combined.

Even when the UFC is not running in Brazil, the country now boasts
a strong traveling contingent for every major pay-per-view.
Brazilian flags can be seen all over the arena when a Brazilian
competitor comes out for a main or co-main event, and Brazilians
rival Canadians for the biggest foreign presence at American MMA
events. Strikingly, there was a major Brazilian contingent at UFC
159 on April 27 in Newark, N.J., despite no Brazilians fighting in
the top three bouts.

With MMA in the midst of a popularity explosion in Brazil,
UFC on Fuel TV 10 this Saturday in Fortaleza will likely prove
part of an emerging UFC trend. For the first time since the
historic Belfort-Anderson Silva pairing, the main event of the show
will feature one Brazilian taking on another, as Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira rematches Fabricio
Werdum. In addition, the show’s co-headliner also pits
Brazilian against Brazilian, with Rafael
“Feijao” Cavalcante dueling Thiago
Silva. That will make this the first UFC event in history to be
headlined by four Brazilian fighters in the top two bouts.

It has been more than two years since an intra-Brazilian rivalry
carried a UFC marquee, but it is extremely unlikely that it will be
another two years before it happens again. The UFC increasingly
caters to the Brazilian market, making it less of a priority to
focus on North American competitors. Additionally, the high level
of talent coming out of Brazil creates all sorts of intriguing
matchups. Perhaps most importantly, intra-Brazilian rivalry is part
of the fabric of Brazilian MMA from its early days.

In some countries without great reservoirs of MMA talent, fighters
have mostly banded together to improve themselves and challenge the
best from other parts of the world. However, in the deepest MMA
hotbeds, there is simply too much talent for that to apply.
Brazilians were regularly fighting each other in no-holds-barred
competition long before they frequently traveled overseas. From
Helio Gracie-Valdemar Santana to Rickson
Gracie-Hugo Duarte,
Brazilians have fought to settle personal issues and prove the
supremacy of their styles.

The battle of style-versus-style is particularly important to
Brazilian vale tudo competition. Brazilian jiu-jitsu proclaimed its
superiority as a fighting art, only to be challenged by luta livre.
The later rivalry between
Brazilian Top Team and
Chute Boxe was defined by the submission grappling prowess of
Murilo Bustamente, Mario Sperry
and the Nogueira brothers against the dynamic muay thai of Wanderlei
Silva and the Rua brothers. It produced some of the most heated
action in Pride history, from the high-profile Ricardo
Arona-Wanderlei
Silva bouts to the criminally forgotten war between Sperry and
Murilo
“Ninja” Rua at Pride 20. While Brazil’s first love of futebol
was heavily nationalist, MMA remained more tribal in nature.

This is not the case with Werdum and Nogueira, as they have similar
styles. They are known primarily for their submissions but sport
underrated standup and excellent durability. They have more in
common as fighters than they have differences. Their fight is not
about proving some broader point but rather advancing their
position in the sport.

The first time Nogueira and Werdum fought was in 2006 in the Pride
open weight grand prix, as each man was looking to capture that
prestigious tournament crown. Now they fight to advance their cause
in the UFC’s heavyweight division; Werdum, in particular, could put
himself in line for a heavyweight title shot. National bragging
rights are a nice added bonus for the winner, particularly after
being spotlighted on the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter:
Brazil.”

With Brazil in the midst of an MMA boom, the stakes are high for
Brazil’s premier fighters. Major national sponsorships, big purses
and huge fan followings are out there for those who make it to the
top, but there is also now more competition for those spots than
ever before. Werdum must get past Nogueira and Junior dos
Santos just as Belfort must get past Anderson Silva.
Competition within the Brazilian MMA scene will only get fiercer
from here. One cannot be the world’s best until he is first
Brazil’s best.